It’s easy to get irritated by the silliness of some Twitter threads and this weekend’s phonics offering was one for the ages. But having taken a deep breath I thought of all the intellectually curious teachers and principals out there doing amazing evidence-backed work. THREAD.
Such as those at @yatesavenuePS West Sydney led by @dmacsporran, who embraced a systematic phonics approach supported by decodable readers and dramatically reduced the proportion of students who require reading intervention. theaustralian.com.au/nation/primary…
And St Bernard’s Primary School at Bateman’s Bay, under principal Jo Wain, which has lifted the number of kindergarten children reading at benchmark from half to 85 per cent in three years after adopting systematic phonics. theaustralian.com.au/nation/catholi…
And Brandon Park Primary School, in Melbourne’s east, which switched from balanced literacy to systematic phonics. Concerned that students weren’t doing better, principal Sheryl Chard decided to investigate why and came across the science of reading. theaustralian.com.au/nation/schools…
I was struck by Chard’s honesty when she said she wished that she’d known what she knows now at the start of her career. Just like the primary teachers featured here who learned the hard way that their uni training left them ill-prepared to teach reading. google.com.au/amp/s/amp.thea…
Despite the naysayers, more principals are appreciating the role of decodable texts (as opposed to predictable readers) in supporting students to practice their newly acquired phonics skills, such as Clayton Park PS’s @GregClement15. theage.com.au/national/victo…
Teachers crave evidence-based information. After a NSW training blitz on reading instruction, 63 per cent of participants said they would include a greater focus on phonics in class, while 70 per cent said they planned to switch to using decodable texts. theaustralian.com.au/nation/teacher…
Fortunately we don’t have to look to social commentators on Twitter for advice on teaching reading (just like we don’t ask social media to diagnose a medical issue). There are evidence-backed resources out there, such as this one developed by NSW CESE: cese.nsw.gov.au//images/storie…
I too once believed that immersing my child in books, poems, songs, visits to the library, would teach her to read. Until it didn’t. My own experience here: theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/readi…
Finally, my daughter is now in Year 1 and we still use decodable books (along with regular books of course) for practice. This one by Little Learners Love Literacy is designed to reinforce knowledge of the split digraphs a-e, i-e, u-e. It’s informative and engaging. Imagine that! 
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